A piece of tear-stained finger bone sank into his lips, and Qi Yun's face, which seemed to be always rational and without any emotional changes, showed an expression of almost shock.
He raised his chin slightly and tilted his face upward. All the chewing sounds, the clattering of bowls and chopsticks, and even the sounds of footsteps in the cafeteria stopped, and the air fell into deathly silence.
The pupils of the cold eyes kept shrinking at this moment. The wind blew through the gaps in the window, as if an invisible monster was making a sound similar to a sigh.
Tang Ning was sitting on a chair. From this angle, he couldn't see the drastic changes in Qi Yun's expression. He just instinctively felt something was wrong.
What happened to Qi Yun
Tang Ning stared at Qi Yun blankly. There were still traces of tears in the corners of his eyes. His moist eyes looked dazed and pitiful.
He saw Qi Yun's Adam's apple rolling up and down, and his body trembling slightly. Then, Qi Yun slowly lowered his head, his face still calm and composed, as if he treated Tang Ning no differently from the others.
Tang Ning seemed to have touched upon the disguise beneath that cold exterior, like a fire surging beneath the ice.
"What's wrong with you?" Qi Yun asked him with his head down.
There is a fundamental difference between normal and all crazy NPCs.
But in this abnormal copy, Qi Yun being so normal is itself an abnormal thing.
"I'm fine," Tangning said timidly. His eyes, nose, and even chin were all red, and his voice was soft as a mess. "I'm fine."
"Does it still hurt?" Qi Yun gently stroked the red marks on Tang Ning's body.
The skin there was already delicate, and became even more sensitive after being injured. Even though Qi Yun had eased up on his strength, it still stimulated Tang Ning so much that her eyelashes trembled, and her tears, like mist, condensed into tears and fell down.
Tangning clearly felt Qi Yun's fingers tremble, and then a ridiculous and terrifying idea popped up in Tangning's not-so-smart brain -
He seems to be very excited to see me cry
After realizing this, Tangning's eyes suddenly widened and she tried hard to hold back her tears.
Qi Yun's fingers slid from the scars on Tang Ning's face to the purple-blue area on Tang Ning's neck, and moved to the back of his neck little by little. His hot palm fit perfectly around Tang Ning's neck, and Tang Ning had the illusion that he was being bitten on the back of his neck by a ferocious beast.
"Why did you ask me to go to the dormitory this morning?" Qi Yun asked calmly.
"Someone blocked me outside this morning and wouldn't let me go out. I was afraid of being late, so I wanted you to open the door for me. But I didn't expect Gu Ming to open it for me in advance."
Qi Yun hummed lightly.
"I'm sorry for making you run for nothing." Tang Ning squeezed out an apology. In fact, he wanted to ask Qi Yun if he could let go.
"Don't blame you. I was a step late." Her dark peach blossom eyes stared at Tangning intently. "By the way, are you close to Gu Ming?"
The moment they looked at each other, Tang Ning's heart seemed to skip a beat and he shook his head instinctively.
He didn't know why he vetoed it in the first place.
Qi Yun still stared at him intently.
Tangning subconsciously smiled ingratiatingly. Although he was smiling, his eyes looked so scared that he looked like he was about to cry. He said in a timid voice, "Qi Yun"
When he encountered danger in the morning, he also called out the name Qi Yun in a trembling voice, as if he was calling out something.
Qi Yun's frozen gaze moved slightly.
"Qi Yun, Qi Yun, Qi Yun." Tangning carefully reached out her hand and touched Qi Yun's hand that was pinching her neck. She said in a trembling voice, "My neck hurts."
He touched so carefully and fearfully, like a frightened child cautiously trying to comfort a ferocious beast on the verge of going berserk.
The slender hands slowly loosened.
Tangning vaguely realized a way to get along with Qi Yun, so he continued to try, "My body hurts, my hands hurt, everything hurts."
Qi Yun's hands hung down by his sides and were slightly curled up, as if he was trying hard to suppress something.
"Qi Yun." Tang Ning kept calling out the other person's name with a trembling voice.
His handsome face finally regained its cold expression. He looked down at Tangning coldly, "I'll take you to the infirmary. The pain will go away after you apply some medicine."
At that moment, Tangning almost fell to his knees in relief. He covered his mouth and nodded desperately.
Qi Yun didn't look at Tangning.
He walked out without looking around.
Tang Ning immediately followed Qi Yun out. During this process, his whole heart was on Qi Yun, and he did not notice that the NPCs who had been staring at him lowered their heads so much that they seemed to be hanging their heads on their chests.
A strange clicking sound emerged from the dead silence. It was the sound of the upper and lower teeth chattering, as if countless shameful things hiding in the dark were trembling.
Tang Ning followed Qi Yun out of the cafeteria without noticing. The sun was shining brightly outside. Qi Yun picked up the black umbrella placed at the entrance of the cafeteria. He held the umbrella open, and the shadow under the umbrella completely covered Tang Ning.
Tang Ning raised his eyes cautiously. Through the dark umbrella handle, Tang Ning could only see Qi Yun's cold profile. Qi Yun was a head taller than him. From this angle, Qi Yun's nose was very high, and his long eyelashes did not have any curling arcs. His eyebrows and eyes were so cold that it made people feel unapproachable.
The black umbrella silently tilted towards Tang Ning, covering half of her face, leaving only half of her snow-white jaw exposed, shielding her from the prying eyes hiding in the dark.
Under the black umbrella, no one spoke.
They walked side by side across the empty campus. The infirmary was not far from the cafeteria. After Tang Ning followed Qi Yun for a while, they saw two low bungalows. The houses were painted white and a bicycle was parked at the door.
Tang Ning inexplicably felt that the bicycle looked familiar. He walked in and saw a familiar figure sitting on a plastic chair with his back to him.
That was Gu Ming with a bandage on his left hand.
The person standing aside was Zhou Chuan with a serious expression.
The NPC who was giving Gu Ming the order said slowly, "Isn't it just a broken arm? Who told you not to do your homework? Students nowadays are really..."
Hearing the sound of someone entering the room, Gu Ming and Zhou Chuan turned to look at Tang Ning.
Tang Ning stared blankly at Gu Ming's left hand which was bandaged across his chest, then raised his head to look at Gu Ming's pale face. Gu Ming's forehead was covered in cold sweat. Compared to his energetic look in the morning, Gu Ming's entire spirit and energy had visibly declined at this moment.
How did Gu Ming get injured
Is it because I exchanged assignments with him
Even if you get hurt in the game, you can recover as long as you return to reality, but in such a dangerous dungeon, getting hurt more means more danger.
Tangning saw Gu Ming frowning and asked anxiously, "What's wrong with your injuries? Who caused them?!"
Tang Ning didn't look in the mirror, so she didn't see that the red marks on his body had begun to turn blue and purple, which looked shocking. In addition, his entire face was covered with traces of crying, as if he had been severely abused.
Although I was indeed bullied once.
He thought Gu Ming would regret exchanging assignments with him, but he didn't expect that the first thing Gu Ming cared about was his injury.
Why is Gu Ming so nice to him
Tangning's chest felt even swollen. He looked at Gu Ming and whispered, "I'm fine. It's you, what happened to your hand..."
Their eyes met, and both of them looked at each other with extraordinary concern, as if they wished they could get hurt for the other.
Qi Yun stared at the tears in Tang Ning's eyes, looking at this person who was so scared in front of him and so fragile that he felt he could not grasp her, and then looked at another person with soft and warm eyes.
It happens again.
Why are you looking at that person
Why not look at him like this
A violent aura was surging in his body, and for a moment Qi Yun wanted to make this person feel more pain, even more pain, preferably so much pain that he would not dare to give such a look to anyone else again.
Want to hurt him.
I want him to cry.
I want to kiss away his tears
Qi Yun just stood quietly behind Tang Ning, watching this touching scene. Then, he suddenly smiled.
He was already very handsome even when he wasn't smiling, and the moment he slowly raised the corners of his lips it was as if ice and snow were melting, so stunning that people couldn't look away. However, everyone who saw this smile felt their blood run cold.
Zhou Chuan stared at Qi Yun with vigilance.
The old doctor, who was slumped in the chair, suddenly sat up straight.
Even Gu Ming, who had focused all his attention on Tang Ning, looked at Qi Yun. The unprecedented crisis warning made Gu Ming's pupils tremble.
The sudden change in atmosphere left Tang Ning a little confused. He turned his head and met Qi Yun's smiling lips.
Qi Yun was born with a pair of peach blossom eyes that should be full of affection. He was usually serious and cold, and his peach blossom eyes were almost heartless. But when he smiled, he was so gentle and affectionate that it could make people feel slightly dizzy and want to tremble.
"Qi Yun?" Tangning called out tremblingly, "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing." Qi Yun leaned closer to Tangning, his lips curled up to her ear, and whispered to her in a loving way, "I see your friendship as a classmate."
The warm breath sprayed on Tang Ning's ear, and Tang Ning's shoulder and neck shuddered uncontrollably. He listened to Qi Yun's every word and said, "I am a little touched."
A strange tingling sensation spread from his earlobes. Tangning's breathing was trembling. He explained awkwardly with unconcealed fear, "I'm sorry."
"Why are you apologizing?" The eyes that were fixed on Tangning seemed to genuinely not understand.
—Why should I apologize
—I shouldn’t lie.
—My relationship with Gu Ming is indeed better than that between ordinary classmates.
Tang Ning's eyes trembled, and he didn't say anything, but Qi Yun looked at him for a while, as if he really understood what he meant.
As a result, the violent emotion became even more unbridled, almost tearing Qi Yun's sanity apart, tearing everything that he hated into pieces.
In extreme anger, Qi Yun heard the trembling, crying call, one after another, as pitiful as a kitten.
The man's name was "Qi Yun".
Qi Yun. Qi Yun. Qi Yun.
That person seemed to have a natural way of taming him, whether it was crying into his arms last night or calling his name over and over again today, so those terrible thoughts suddenly changed again:
Want to love him.
I want him to stop crying.